There was excitement in the air. The guests were dressed up in traditional ethnic wear. There were flowers and intricate rangoli. And a beautiful bride-to-be. Soon, the beating of drums at the gate signalled that the procession was on its way.
Welcome to the wedding of Bunty and Babli.
But then, the bride and bridegroom were not real. It was a unique wedding of dolls organised by Shreevatsa — a childcare institute that provides shelter, family, education and medical aid to family-deprived and destitute children — at the Sassoon general hospital.
“This was a fantastic way of teaching these children the meaning of the institution of family. This was a way of imparting knowledge of our community to the children,” said Nirmala Lahoti, a committee member of the Society of Friends of Sassoon Hospitals (SOFOSH), which collaborated with Shreevatsa for the event.
“These children do not have a family. There are certain events in our society that we are exposed to. We organise multiple activities throughout the year so that the children have an orientation of the events that take place in every household. We celebrate each and every festival,” said Sharmila Sayed, the administration head of Shreevatsa.
At the “wedding” on Friday evening, Shreevatsa members danced with the children to vibrant beats and Marathi pop numbers. All the elements of a real wedding were in place: coloured rice was distributed followed by the recitation of the “mangalashtak” and the varmala ceremony of the dolls named Bunty and Babli.
“A wedding ceremony is no less than a festival in an Indian household. Therefore, we ensured that we did our best to make this event as memorable as possible. We also invited children who were adopted. This is our way of showing them that they will always have a family here,” said Sayed.
